Romans 8:30 “Glorified?”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

³⁰And whom He predestined, them He also called;

           and whom He called, them He also justified;

      and whom He justified, them He also glorified.

One more thing I’d like to note that I have never seen before. Notice those last four words, “them He also glorified.”

Glorified.

Glorified. Me? That’s what it says.

Of course, God alone is worthy of glory. Jesus is the One before  whom “every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth” (Phil. 2:10). Back in Daniel’s vision He was given “authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped Him” (7:14). Even in heaven, what do people do with the crowns they’ve been given? “Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and worship Him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say, ‘You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power…’” (Rev. 4:9-11). Those crowns represent a part of the “glory” that God is willing to bestow on believers, but, even having received them, those men and women never forget who is truly “the worthy One.”

Okay. So we all understand that the Lord is the only One truly worthy, the only One worthy to be glorified. And yet what does He say about us? We’ve not only been called and justified, we’ve been glorified. Glorified. Of course we all know about the crowns. We’ve read many times “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him” (Ja. 1:12). We are all aware that we may receive crowns in heaven. We know there will be some sort of recognition, but then I’ve never noticed that the Lord states it so bluntly, that He glorifies us.

What is amazing me is the realization that He doesn’t have to do that. God is under no obligation to grant “glory” to anyone. He is the One who is great. He is God. He is infinite. I’m just a man, a created man, very weak and fragile at best, a rotten rebellious sinner at my worst. He owes me nothing. He could go on being “great,” grant none of it to us, and be perfectly just in doing it. Yet what does it say? “Whom He justified, them He also glorified.”

How many “great” people spend their time trying to make “great” those who serve them? Wouldn’t it be a very rare thing indeed to observe a “great” person, like a famous movie star or singer, or a basketball player or quarterback, who was known for working hard to elevate the others around them? “Making great,” of course, is the parents’ heart. From the time a good parent (and especially the mother) knows they’ve conceived a child, their entire soul becomes consumed with the welfare of that child. The prayers start shooting to heaven, the budget gets re-arranged, the house gets re-arranged, the schedule gets re-arranged, and that parent would literally die first before any harm ever came to that child. That parent, though they may be “great” themselves at whatever, will live first and foremost to see their child become the “great” one. (I realize there are way too many wicked parents in this world of whom none of this is true, but I’m not talking about them. I’m talking about good parents).

If we think about a parent’s heart, I believe we can understand God’s heart here. He created me. He made me His child. He wants me to cry, “Abba, Father!” And what has He been doing ever since? Working “all things together” for my “good.” He wants me to be glorified. As with a parent, it doesn’t take from their “glory” to give glory to their child. In fact, this universe works exactly opposite of that. What does it do for any parent to have a child who rises to any kind of greatness? It makes us enormously proud and, though we never sought it, it makes others admire us when they see our children do well. Their “glory” only adds to ours!

So, I can understand God’s heart here.

But I’m still amazed.

Me? Glorified? How utterly humbling is that – to think the Lord of glory wants me to be glorified? Just think about it: Not only justified. That would be amazing, that a sinner like me should be forgiven and made a child of God, but … glorified?

What an astoundingly kind God He is!

I’ve noted before that Eph. 2:6,7 tells us “God raised us up with Christ, and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” God is glorified in His kindness to us, and what does Rom. 8:30 tells us that kindness includes? Glorifying us.

What an incredible kindness. I’m sitting here looking Him in the eyes and I feel such a swirl of emotions. At the same time, it is enormously humbling. I’m painfully aware of how unworthy I am of such kindness. Then it just makes me want to sit here praising Him. Then it makes me feel so loved. Then it makes me want to rise to whatever it is He wants me to be and do. Just the thought that He would glorify me, makes every corner of my soul want to lay a crown at His feet!

Now we remember, what is the context of this passage? Suffering. Everything the Lord says here in this passage we call the pinnacle of the Bible – it’s all in the context of suffering. This wonder that I am feeling as I look in His eyes and ponder that He would glorify me – that wonder is another of His kindnesses, something that can and should sustain my heart even as I face this world’s seemingly endless cruelty and pain and trouble!

I have for a while been thinking about that illustration that our lives are each (and together) a great Divine tapestry that the Lord is daily weaving. I’m keenly aware that all we see is the “underside” of the tapestry. And what do we see? It’s a mess.  I look at my own life and yes, that’s about the best I can see – the underside of a tapestry, a shapeless mangle of colored threads. A mess. However, in that Day, when we get to look down from above instead up from beneath, what will we see? A beautiful tapestry! A tapestry of the Lord’s weaving! That’s part of the glory we’re talking about in Rom. 8:30! Our Lord is so great and so kind, He can take even the mess that we are, and the mess we seem to be weaving, and yet turn it into something truly beautiful.

Wow.

Lord, You alone are worthy of glory and honor and power, but thank you that you would raise me up, that you would take even the mess of who I am, and make something out of me. And it’s almost hard fo me to acknowledge this, but You said it, that You will actually glorify me.

Wow.

“All praise to Him, who reigns above,

in majesty supreme,

Who gave His Son for man to die,

that He might man redeem.

Blessed be the name!”